New trends in microRNA research
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2012 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs 18-25 nucleotides in length that downregulate gene expression during various crucial cell processes such as apoptosis, differentiation and development. Changes in the expression profiles of miRNAs have been observed in a variety of human solid tumors and hematological malignancies. Functional studies indicate that miRNAs act as tumor suppressors and oncogenes. These findings significantly extend concept of molecular pathogenesis of cancer and have shown great potential for miRNAs as a novel class of therapeutic targets. Several investigations have also described the ability of miRNA expression profiles to predict prognosis and response to selected treatments in cancer patients, and support diagnosis of origin among cancer of unknown primary site. miRNAs' occurrence has been repeatedly observed also in blood serum and plasma and other body fluids, and miRNAs as novel minimally invasive biomarkers have indicated reasonable sensitivity for cancer detection. This lecture covers recent discoveries in miRNA biology, miRNA involvement in the hallmarks of cancer, and in miRNA translational research enabling their usage as disease biomarkers or novel class of therapeutic targets in oncology. |